Parcel collection shops in stations are one of the latest delivery solutions in a highly competitive e-retail environment. Paul Galpin, Managing Director P2P Mailing, discusses how retailers are increasingly approaching the delivery function from the perspective of the customer, with an emphasis on convenience.
The e- retail industry is an ever changing landscape. Analysts predict that, by 2016 the online market will be worth $4.2 trillion dollars in the G20 economies.[1] The growth of online retail has been matched by the growth of consumer expectation. Consumers now presume that they will be able to order the product that they want at any time of the day, and for it to arrive promptly when and where they expect it. Moreover, those retailers that can’t produce these standards will inevitably face pitfalls. Failure to deliver reliably could mean that retailers lose the customers that they have disappointed, but they could also alienate a raft of potential customers they haven’t yet engaged with. Our research shows that nearly two thirds of consumers cite poor delivery standards as the worst thing that can go wrong with online shopping and that almost a quarter (23.5%) of respondents said that they had already used social media to complain about these services.
Retailers are responding to growing consumer expectations by embracing innovative delivery strategies. Parcel collection shops are a prime example of retailers approaching the delivery function from the perspective of the customer. Network Rail announced this concept will go nationwide, with 300 new facilities across the UK over the next three years, creating more than 300 jobs.[2] Flexibility geared around the needs of the consumer is a recurring theme when looking at new delivery solutions. Indeed, Royal Mail has recently trialled Sunday deliveries in order to satisfy customer demand. [3] Previously, offering a sole, standard delivery service may have been sufficient but now other channels such as trackable and express deliveries are required to ensure that retailers appeal to a wider audience.
Given the range of delivery strategies available, retailers need to make sure they tailor their solutions to their specific target audience, avoiding innovation purely for the sake of it and understanding what options work best. Customer preferences will vary according to age, work status and even location. For example, unlike in the UK where pick up points are only just becoming widespread, in France almost a third (28%) of products ordered at distance are delivered to pick up points.[4] Similarly in Scandinavia pick up points are the standard form of delivery thanks to the widely dispersed population.[5] Such knowledge is critical to any retailer looking to sell internationally.
The increasing complexity associated with delivery and returns options is driving leading retailers to partner with third-party experts in the field. The outsourced option allows retailers to harness the expertise that a specialist partner can bring. The best partners have well-established relationships with carriers across the globe and are able to flexibly match the right delivery service to a particular job. With this information, expert partners can help to ensure that delivery solutions not only meet customer expectations but serve to enhance the overall shopping experience.
[1]BCG Perspectives by the Boston Consulting Group, The Internet Economy in the G20, 19 March 2012
[2] Internet Retailing, ‘Doddle railway parcel collection shops to expand nationwide’, http://internetretailing.net/2014/06/doddle-railway-parcel-collection-shops-to-expand-nationwide/, 19 June
[3] Internet Retailing. ‘Royal Mial pilots Sunday services to meet online shopper’s needs’,
[4] INRETS, ‘An evaluation of recent pick up point experiments in European cities: The rise of two competing models?’, July 2007
[5] bPost International, ‘The advent of pick-up points as delivery solutions’, 04 August 2014
